Mars’ hot start downs Trinity
Planets finish one 3 shy of record
Mars coach Rob Carmody has said a number of times this year that his team is pretty good when it is shooting the 3-point shot with success.
Mars was certainly pretty good in the first half Saturday. Check that. The Planets were really good.
There was life at Mars behind the 3-point line in the first two quarters and the scorching start led the Planets to a 67-55 victory against visiting Trinity in a WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal.
Mars finished the game with 13 3-pointers, which is one away from the Class 5A playoff game record set, coincidentally, three days earlier by Trinity. Class 5A only has been around for five seasons, but Mars’ 13 3-pointers ties for 10th-best in the history of the WPIAL in any classification.
The marksmanship helped put Mars (16-3), the No. 5 seed, in the WPIAL semifinals for the sixth consecutive season. Trinity, the No. 13 seed trying to make the semifinals for only the second time in school history, finished 10-9.
“When it works like it did today … but we’ve had other games when it hasn’t worked,” Mars coach Rob Carmody said of the 3-point shooting. “We were 5 for 35 against Highlands. But that’s who we are.”
In the first half, Mars made 56% (10 of 18) behind the arc. The Planets went on a 21-0 run in the second quarter and Mars had a 31-point lead (46-11) at halftime. That meant the mercy rule (running clock in the second half when the lead is 30 or more) was on at the start of the third quarter. It was the
seventh time this season Mars had double figures in 3pointers.
“Wednesday night [in a victory against Highlands], we were hotter than a pistol. We had 10 3s in the first half,” Trinity coach Tim Tessmer said. “Basically, this was a flip-flop game. We tried a bunch of different things against them, but if you’re making shots like that, the offense looks great.”
Trinity played man-toman and zone defense in the first half against Mars, but Mars consistently got open 3pointers either off penetration and kick-outs, or skip passes across the zone.
“That first half, you walk out as a coach, like, ‘I hope everyone saw that because it looks like I know what I’m doing today,’” Carmody said
with a laugh.
Zac Schlegel, a junior guard, scored a team-high 19 points, finished with five 3pointers and made 4 of 6 in the first half. Mihali Sfanos, a senior guard, had 10 points and was 2 of 4 behind the arc in the first two quarters. But Mars also got a big lift off the bench from junior guard Bryce Cunningham, who made 3 of 5 3-pointers in the second and third quarters and finished with 15 points.
“When we’re hitting shots like that, you’re not beating us,” said Schlegel, who scored a team-high 19 points. “We had an answer for everything they tried.”
For the season, Schlegel, Sfanos and Tasso Sfanos (sophomore guard and Mihali’s brother) each have between 42 and 47 3-pointers and they are shooting
between 38 and 45 percent behind the arc.
Trinity was led by senior guard Michael Dunn, who tied a Class 5A playoff record with six 3-pointers and scored 25 points. But 12 of Dunn’s points came in the fourth quarter when the outcome had long been decided.
“Dunn is a terrific player, a great shooter,” Carmody said. “He got some at the end. But boy, in the first three quarters, even the shots he got, he had to really work for. Our kids were connected all the way around today, offensively and defensively.”
Mars will play in the semifinals Tuesday against Chartiers Valley.